Academic Motherhood in Nigeria: Navigating Reproduction and Care at the Margins

Wednesday 4 June 2025, 12:30pm to 2:00pm

Venue

Online

Open to

Alumni, Postgraduates, Prospective Postgraduate Students, Public, Staff

Registration

Free to attend - registration required

Registration Info

Register for the Zoom meeting.

Event Details

This study explores how Nigerian academic mothers navigate the intersection of motherhood and work.

Drawing on the ideal academic worker construct, gendered corporeality, and African feminism, this study engages narrative interviews conducted with sixty academic mothers in Nigeria. The challenges identified relate to institutional, sociocultural, childcare and physiological demands, revealing how the disembodied nature of academic work organisation intersects with socio-cultural expectations of care, to impact academic women’s career trajectories. The strategies deployed suggest how women both resist and reinforce dominant norms. This study advances gender equity debates in Higher Education professions, by advocating for structural changes that foster more inclusive and equitable workplaces.

This event is part of the Educational Research Seminar Series.

Seminar presenter

M. Oluwatobiloba Odetoyinbo is a Doctoral Candidate in Management and Organisation Studies at Lancaster University Management School, where she also serves as a Teaching Associate. Her research focuses on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) and Decolonization, particularly in the context of women’s work and employment

Contact Details

Name Rebecca Marsden
Email

r.marsden@lancaster.ac.uk